ANAHEIM, Calif. – The first lineup Joe Girardi ever wrote as a major league manager, opening day of 2006, contained the following names on his young and challenged Florida Marlins:

Hanley Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera, Josh Willingham and Dan Uggla.

However, Cabrera was just 21, Uggla was making his big league debut and Willingham and Ramirez had a combined 12 big league hits – all by Willingham.

That club lost its opener to the Astros, 1-0. The next night, they beat Houston's Andy Pettitte, 11-2.

Girardi won NL Manager of the Year honors for keeping that inexperienced group in the hunt through late summer.

"The first thing was figuring out who I had and who was going to be on the team," Girardi said with a laugh. "Usually you don't have to deal with that here."

Not until this year.

On Saturday, in the midst of a team-wide Yankees scoring drought, Girardi penned the likes of Jayson Nix, Lyle Overbay, Thomas Neal, Reid Brignac and Chris Stewart into the lineup at Angel Stadium.

Girardi hadn't yet reached Billy Martin's breaking point of throwing names into a cap and pulling out a random batting order. Instead, he clung to the manager's creed.

"I always feel the job is to manage the club you have at hand and try to get the most out of them," said Girardi, who has still been doing that job as well as anyone in baseball – even as the bats have gone silent.

Someone mentioned the All-Star cavalry that could be arriving after the All-Star break, and Girardi believes he'll have Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez available to him at some point.

Getting a trio that can stay healthy, produce and alleviate the pressure on his pitching staff is another story. That's why, "I don't really ever assume we'll get them back until we get them back."

Kevin Youkilis, who was supposed to be A-Rod's understudy, will see a specialist Monday and could potentially be gone a long time with his latest back issue.

Eduardo Nunez, the fill-in for Jeter, was placed on the DL on May 10 with a mysterious rib cage injury – with no clear return in sight.

"We've used, what, five third basemen? Four shortstops? Our depth has really been tested," Girardi said.

Pitching has carried the day, and the Yankees might soon have to wonder how to fit a healthy Michael Pineda into the rotation. And healthy pitching is why Girardi feels that he faced a bigger managerial challenge with the '08 Yankees, who missed the playoffs.